“Digital marketing is the new oil” were the words of Kayode Ishola (a representative of Digprom digital marketing organization) when quizzed about the importance of digital marketing skills to marketers.

The savvy marketer would tell you that the success of a marketing campaign in any location hinges on the population of such an area. At the moment, social media is turning into a platform where the majority of human interaction, socialization and communication takes place. Quick research on how much content is distributed via social media daily reaffirms the aforementioned fact. The answer is huge, so huge that it has been given the term “CONTENT SHOCK”. Every 60 seconds 3.3 million people make a Facebook post, and 29 million messages are distributed via Whatsapp. That means as a marketer, you have your work cut out if you’re going to get your message and brand noticed by the people using these platforms.

In its strictest sense, digital marketing connotes marketing, displaying or selling your brand, product or services to people on digital platforms like the internet (although contrary to popular opinion, digital marketing extends beyond the internet).

The world is gradually turning into a society driven by digital technology. Such is its impact that there exist many countries where citizens don’t have access to running water, but own smartphones. Whether you’re tech-savvy or not, the unchanged fact remains that Digital technology has developed an incredible influence on people’s interactions, work, purchases, and life habits.

Hence, the need for businesses today to have a firm grasp on how to utilize the digital universe (with digital marketing as the major weapon) to maximize their brand awareness and impact is on the rise. In this post, we look at 7 ways in which digital marketing has changed and keeps changing the ever dynamic face of marketing.

SEVEN WAYS IN WHICH DIGITAL MARKETING HAS CHANGED (AND KEEPS CHANGING) THE FACE OF MARKETING

1- TRANSPARENCY:

In today’s digital world, customers want to know about the brands they interact with and purchase from. Before any brand can enjoy success in digital marketing, such a brand needs to be transparent and demonstrate its personality online (an act that is not present in traditional terrestrial marketing).

Man, by nature does not trust his money. In fact, a study by Label shows that only 12% of consumers trust companies when it comes to packaging and looks for information on the product elsewhere although 67% believe it’s up to the brand to provide them with his information.

For those business brands that are transparent and do communicate openly with customers, the reward is loyalty with 94% of consumers claiming to stick with a company that offers transparency and 73% would be willing to pay more for a product that offers it.

The knowledge of digital marketing will help you understand this and ensure that your customers are informed with relevant information about your brand, be it good, bad or ugly.

2- MORE SPECIFIC AUDIENCE TARGETING:

The days of cold-calling (were reaching an interested party was a matter of luck) are gradually becoming a thing of the past.

Digital marketing firms like DIGPROM have made us understand that with digital marketing, brands are given the ability to reach directly to a group of people who are already interested in a particular niche of products.

For example, when Nike wants to embark on a marketing campaign, they make use of social influencers to sponsor their products. They go for influencers in sports like Cristiano Ronaldo who are known for sports and sportswear. Thus, making it easier for them to reach their targeted clients.

3- BRAND AWARENESS:

To say that the basic goal of marketing is to reach out to as many people as possible to create brand awareness would be a tautology. In fact, marketing cannot occur without brand awareness.

Although terrestrial marketers would claim that awareness is created for their brands using traditional terrestrial marketing, it is imperative to note that digital marketing reaches more persons. In fact, digital marketing is considered one of the most effective (if not the most effective)tools in reaching out to millions of people at the same time.

When a digital marketing campaign is launched effectively, it has the potential to reach millions of people within a matter of minutes thereby creating more awareness of a brand and its products.

Also, digital platforms like social media can help brands reach out to new markets unknown to the brand.

4- EASY COMMUNICATION:

Interacting with potential customers today can be like aiming for goal directly from a free kick in a game of soccer.

The ball represents the brand’s marketing message, which will move when a shot is taken by the player (the brand)before finally landing in the net (i.e. a customer). Digital marketing acts as the soccer boot, it is with the boot that the shot is taken.

Digprom explained in one of it’s varying articles on digital marketing that “Direct messaging, one-on-one messaging and private chat groups are on fire right now”.

The need for brands to interact with their clients/customers regularly increases daily and many digital-savvy brands are embracing this culture. Whether you’re a music brand, fashion brand sport brand or education brand, the need for you to embrace communication is paramount regardless of your niche.

Facebook Messenger (Facebook’s messaging app) has over 900 million global users, and studies have shown that teenagers now spend more time on messaging apps than they do on actual social networks. Hence, in other to enhance your marketing campaigns you need to develop methods of connecting with, and marketing to, potential clients through these kinds of applications.

5- TRENDING WITH TRENDS:

According to Merriam-Webster.com, a trend is defined as “a current style or preference “.

Yes, a few savvy marketers would say they tailor their marketing campaigns around trends. But then, only persons with digital marketing skills would know that not every trend is compatible with your brand. This is because digital marketing teaches that some trends are not good for some brands while some others are perfect for it.

Digital marketing giants like Digprom, Topyougo and Kings elite have made us realize that trending with the trend is a two-edged sword. A representative of Digprom (one of the leading digital marketing companies in Africa) was quoted as saying “trending with a trend is a very good thing to do, in fact it enhances your marketing campaign. But, if you’re not careful with the kind of trend you trend with, you might end up causing your brand more harm than good.

Also, the timing of the trend you’re to trend with is as important as the trend itself. Imagine a sport brand trying to trend with an old trend (say 2018 FIFA World Cup ) in 2019. Of course the trend is healthy for the sport brand, but the wrong timing of the trend is what renders it next to useless. These (and many more) are the basic skills that digital marketing teaches.

6- ANALYTICS:

There’s an infamous saying that “doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result is the simplest definition of madness”. Even the law of diminishing returns speaks at length about the many dangers of being redundant and (or) stereotype.

Whether you’re the savvy terrestrial marketer or a newbie matters less in this case because almost every (if not every) terrestrial marketer is guilty of this.

Analytics simply means measurement (getting quantitative value). Analytics is an integral part of digital marketing. The major objective of digital marketing is to reach out to as many audiences as possible with the least amount of money possible. With analytics, digital marketers get the results of each digital marketing campaign thereby allowing them analyze the results to know how to improve on each campaign.

Analytics is so pivotal to Digital marketing that any digital marketing campaign without analytics is referred to as a car without wheels.

7- PROPER MONEY MANAGEMENT:

Mismanagement of resources (especially financial resources) is one major cankerworm that eats deep into the root of development of any business organization.

Over time, traditional marketers have complained and wailed about just how expensive marketing is. With the existence of analytics as a digital marketing tool, marketers are able to get results from each of their campaign, analyze the results and work on them so as to improve in their next campaign instead of the “trial and error “ that is synonymous to traditional terrestrial marketing.

An article on Digprom.net explains that with digital marketing, one can be sure to prevent (or at the very least reduce) mismanagement of funds as well as wastage because you no longer need to rely on luck but on statistical results.

On a conclusive note, the knowledge of digital marketing is one that is needed by everyone regardless of you being a digital marketer or not. This is because a dense population of people in the world today make use of social media and digital marketing aids in knowing how to get the best out of social media. Hence, it is only logical for one to posit that digital marketing is the new generation oil.